Top 10 CX Stars Profiled: Naeem Arif & Andrew McGuigan

Customer Experience Magazine is profiling the top 10 Professionals and Influencers from our Top 50 CX Stars list.

Here we look at Number 4 in each category. Andrew McGuigan of Microsoft is today’s featured Professional, and our Influencer is Naeem Arif, founder of NA Consulting.

We welcome feedback on our CX Stars list, and all correspondence should be sent to paul@cxm.world.

Number 4

Andrew McGuigan

Worldwide Leader of Deployment Services at Microsoft

Andrew McGuigan has enjoyed a career that has placed him in strategic positions for brands including Virgin Media, Vodafone, and now Microsoft, where he currently oversees global deployment services.

Before this role, Reading based-Andrew was Microsoft’s Director of Worldwide Customer Service Strategy – a vital post for a brand that has been at the forefront of IT since the heady days of the personal computer revolution.

His drive for customer centricity began with senior call centre roles at British Gas and Thames Water, and after joining Vodafone in 2010, he worked his way towards two major posts at the telecoms giant – Head of UK Customer Services and eventually Head of Consumer Customer Care.

Andrew’s instinct for call centre management has shaped his love of quality Customer Experience, and he has shared his wealth of knowledge at events including the 2018 Future is CX Conference, hosted by Awards International, where he discussed with delegates methods to turn customers into brand advocates and how to maximise the potential of data science when drawing up a CX roadmap.

When the future of contact centres and how customers will interact with these crucial touchpoints is being considered, so too should Andrew’s vision, given his unrivalled experience and eye for improvement.

Andrew says: “I’m passionate about leading people and driving operations to focus on the customer – setting targets, managing information and delivering change programmes to continually improve.”

We look forward to seeing what we can learn from Andrew’s insight in 2020 as contact centres continue to evolve to meet the needs of tech-savvy customers.

Number 4

Naeem Arif

Naeem Arif is fast becoming one of the most influential voices in British CX, and has forged his skills in the fires of retail, hospitality, manufacturing, and more.

Among his business success stories is the Birmingham entrepreneur’s leadership of United Carpets Group, and his experience has guided him to prominent positions of influence including Chair of the Midlands Retail Forum.

In recent years, CCXP Naeem has steadily grown as an CX influencer, and has established his own firm, NA Consulting, to bring his expert eye for customer satisfaction to a growing list of clients – from larger established firms to budding SMEs – across the UK.

Naeem will also be familiar to many business leaders thanks to his impressive back catalogue of books, including the highly influential and bestselling Customer First, which provides valuable insight into converting and keeping loyal customers through CX initiatives.

His excellent contributions have also engaged readers of prestigious titles, including the Wall Street Journal and of course the UK’s first-stop for CX thought leadership, Customer Experience Magazine!

Naeem is also carving out a position as a pundit on customer issues for broadcast media, including the BBC, which has approached him to gauge his thoughts on major issues facing UK retailers – from the rise of Black Friday to the impending impact of Brexit.

Keynote speaking engagements are also bringing his insight to ever-larger audiences – in 2015 for example, he addressed over 2,500 conference delegates in Las Vegas, and the future looks certain to bring a host of further opportunities to preach his clear and effective techniques on customer care.

Naeem says: “Don’t chase turnover, chase satisfied customers. If you can create satisfied customers, then the money will come itself.”

Look out for Naeem’s contribution to the recently published Customer Experience book featuring best practise strategies from 22 global experts.

Click here for profiles of our Number 5 Professionals and Influencers.